[2 mins. 35 secs.] Founding Director of the Maryland Film Festival and President of the Producer’s Club of Maryland, Jed Dietz is the first guest on this special edition of the podcast devoted to that festival. 2018 was the 20th season of the festival.

Filmmaker Nathan Silver returns to the podcast for his 4th visit. Nathan has made appearances on Episodes 148, 189 and 298, and we welcome him back with his latest film, The Great Pretender. The film is his 8th feature, and concerns the lives of a French theater director (Esther Garrel), her ex-boyfriend (Linas Phillips), and the two actors playing them (Maëlle Poesy-Guichard & Keith Poulson) whose lives intersect dramatically in a tangled and darkly funny roundelay set in the New York theater world. The film is currently playing in the festival circuit.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

The legendary screenwriter & director Paul Schrader (Hardcore, Light Sleeper) is on this episode to discuss his new film, First Reformed. The film, which opens in NYC and LA on Friday, May 18th, stars Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried & Cedric Kyles (aka Cedric the Entertainer) and is being distributed by A24. Reverend Ernst Toller (Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock. When a pregnant parishioner (Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence.

Then Baltimore-based filmmaker Matt Porterfield (Putty Hill, I Used to Be Darker) makes his first appearance on the podcast. His new film, Sollers Point, was shot entirely in the Baltimore county titular neighborhood and stars McCaul Lombardi, Zazie Beetz, Jim Belushi, Lynne Cohen & Marin Ireland. Keith (Lombardi) is a 24-year-old drug dealer who is newly released from prison and living with his father (Belushi) under house arrest in Baltimore. He struggles to re-establish himself in a community scarred by unemployment, neglect and segregation. The film is opened this past week in Baltimore and opens in NYC and LA on Friday, May 18th thanks to Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

[10 mins.] This episode of the podcast celebrates the Montclair Film Festival where these two films screened to appreciative audiences. First up, returning to the podcast for their second appearance (they first appeared in 2015 on Episode 291 with their feature God Bless The Child), filmmakers Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck. Their new film, When She Runs, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018 where we conducted part of this interview. We recorded part of it at the Montclair Film Festival a few days later as well. Unable to shake her dreams of competing in the Olympic Games, 20-something runner Kristin (played by Kristin Anderson) sacrifices everything—including precious time with her husband and their young son—to pursue her passion. This minimalist drama follows Kristin as she embarks on a strict daily routine of intense exercise, ice baths, training sessions, and low-calorie meals and moonlights at a snow-cone stand to make ends meet. It’s all in the service of the ultimate goal: a spot on the training team of a world-renowned Olympic coach—and a chance out of this dead-end town. When She Runs is largely the result of a collaboration between the two co-directors along with Kristin and producer Laura Heberton.

[40 mins. 16 secs.] Then I welcome for the first time on the podcast, filmmaker Ben Niles, with a documentary that had its world premiere at the Montclair Film Festival, The 5 Browns: Digging Through The Darkness. Siblings and Juilliard-trained pianists, The 5 Browns were on top of the world after three #1 records and appearances on 60 Minutes, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and more. But beneath the surface of their success loomed a terrible secret: their father, who managed their careers, was responsible for years of sexual abuse against the three sisters. Long before #MeToo, and well aware that their story would devastate their family and possibly the group, the young women bravely spoke out. The 5 Browns documentary follows the siblings’ search for healing through the transformative power of music.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

[5 mins.] Actor John Carroll Lynch returns to the podcast for his second visit (he was last on Episode 430), This time he’s joined by filmmaker Timothy McNeil who directed a new film he stars in called Anything. Deeply depressed after his wife’s death, Early Landry (Lynch) moves from Mississippi to Los Angeles to live with this sister. While there, he forms a complicated and enriching relationship with a transgender sex worker. The movie opens tomorrow, Friday, May 11th in NYC at the AMC Empire 25 and at the Laemmle Monica Center in LA.

[38 mins. 15 secs.] Then I’m joined by San Francisco based filmmaker Daniel Kremer. Kremer is a screenwriter and director of several films, including A Trip to Swadades (2008) and Yarns to be Spun on the Way to the Happy Home (2007). He has also written books on Sidney J. Furie and is busy working on one about Filmwax Radio friend Henry Jaglom. You can find a number of Kremer’s films on the movie streaming site Fandor.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

In film and at our events, place is key. This summer, we’ll dive into the history of our newest venues and we start with Green-Wood Cemetery, host to Opening Night, Damsel, New York Nonfiction and more to be announced soon. “It is the ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue . […]

[5 mins. 24 secs.] President of Entertainment & Co-founder of the blockchain entertainment studio SingularDTV, Kim Jackson, is the first guest. I first met Kim Jackson when I was asked to moderate a Q&A for a film she produced, Blue Caprice, back some years ago. Kim is finally appears on the podcast to discuss Singular DTV, a pioneer which is laying the foundation for a decentralized entertainment industry. Building the future of rights management, project funding, and peer-to-peer distribution, SingularDTV’s platform empowers artists and creators with powerful tools to manage projects from development to distribution. The company has some exciting initiatives coming up, a few of which we touch upon in this conversation. Check out the website for more details.

[34 mins. 32 secs.] Next up, editor and producer Max Heller makes his feature directing debut with the screwball romantic comedy, Born Guilty. The movie stars Rosanna Arquette as Judy, a lonely and frazzled New York social worker who can’t resist the urge to intervene in her son Marty’s life. Meanwhile, Marty (Jay Devore) is trying to be creative in his advertising career and manage a romantic relationship at the same time, on top of constantly talking his mother off the ledge. When Marty’s free- spirited Aussie pal Rawl (David Coussins) shows up, Marty hires Rawl to see Judy and restore her to health any way it takes. Director Max Heller’s heartfelt, ensemble comedy is filled with wry, sly, funny and sexy connections reminiscent of Nora Ephron, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, The Farrelly Brothers and Rob Reiner’s romantic concoctions. Born Guilty will be opening nationally on Friday, May 11th as well as on SVOD. New Yorkers can see the film at AMC Empire 25 in Times Square where I’ll be moderating some Q&A’s along with Max! Join us for an evening of fun, just in time for Mother’s Day weekend.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.